Celebration
by thejammys
Summary: Gai has to take care of his students after they get food poisoning from their celebration meal after their Chunin Exam promotions. Slightly gross Team Gai fluff.


Maito Gai was not ready for his children to grow up.

No, technically his team had not sprouted from the seed of his loins and he could not claim to have been around to raise them during their babyhood, but his Genins were his children all the same.

Of course he had been absolutely ecstatic for their success in the Chunin Exams (what kind of selfish monster sensei wouldn't be proud?) and he could not wait to celebrate with them, but a small part of him ached for knowing that a very large and meaningful chapter of their lives had now come to a close.

These three were his pride and joy in life. He had taken them from awkward, uncoordinated, hormonal, youths and helped mold them into a _team_. They had each blossomed into strong ninjas that Konoha was lucky to have.

Neji had grown from this closed off, angry little boy into someone who nurtured and guided his fellow ninjas with grace and wisdom beyond his years. He had taken his pain and bitterness and turned it into determination to set a better path for himself than the one he always believed was set out for him.

He had _soared_ , and Gai felt so privileged to be able to watch it happen and help guide him along the way.

Tenten and Lee had built themselves out of nothing. They had no particular talents, their intellect was not remarkable, and nether of them seemed particularly suited for leadership skills – but dammit they had _worked_.

The pair had spent countless hours in the training fields together, sweating, screaming, and training and turning themselves into masters.

Lee had blossomed into a splendid shinobi that Gai cried over far too often, and Tenten had sharpened herself into a dangerous weapon.

His team was incredible.

They had worked so hard and come so far.

So really, Gai was happy for them!

But…

He didn't want his babies to grow up.

It was highly unlikely that their team would be able to continue functioning as it had been. Four-man cells with two Chunins and two Jounins simply didn't make sense. Jounins were trained to be able to take on A and S-rank missions on their own. The kind of mission that would necessitate _four_ ninjas of Chunin and Jounin level would be incredibly dangerous or exceptionally long.

Gai would be happy to remain with them. He had been able to maintain his own missions as a Jounin and still find time to be a sensei over the years.

He wanted to be needed.

He still wanted to teach them!

He still wanted to take _care_ of them.

Argh!

This is the plight of a sensei: you spend your life nurturing, sharpening, and training these children in the hopes that they will surpass even you, and then when they do it feels like a limb has been ripped off.

Or maybe that was just Gai.

Maybe the other senseis were better adjusted to the realities of their job.

Well blah on them!

oooooo

Gai's first challenge in 'letting go' came immediately after leaving the Hokage's office when the kids got their promotions and it was time to begin celebrating.

There were a handful of traditions concerning celebrations for ninjas. For example, many teams were treated to meals by their senseis after particularly difficult or long missions.

Asuma had lost his savings to his desire to reward his students for a job well done.

Sharing a meal was an important part of their culture, and having the sensei pay for it was an important part of making it out of the restaurant with a full belly.

The first thing Gai wanted to do was take his students out for a delicious celebratory meal, but for this particular accomplishment in their lives there was a tradition to uphold.

It's changed a lot over the years, and Gai isn't even really sure where it started, but even decades later he can still remember his own special day when he celebrated becoming a Chunin. Graduation from the academy is a right of passage, but promotion to Chunin is a step into adulthood, and as such it is meant to be celebrated in a grown up manner.

The newly promoted Chunins are supposed to go to the restaurant alone (this is often ignored), they are meant to dine alone (this too- restaurants don't like it and just no), the food is always samgyeopsal (no one fights this), and once they are finished eating the student is meant to bring an order of the meat to their sensei and present it to them as a 'thank you' for all of their involvement in the promotion (senseis won't let this part be changed).

This meal is usually supplementary to a shared meal together, usually one with drinks and lots of sides and dessert- something much more celebratory, but the first meal – the very first one the new Chunins eat is supposed to be the solo samgyeopsal.

So Gai would have to wait to treat his students until after they had entertained their tiny taste of adulthood.

He gave them all congratulatory hugs, kisses on their heads, and wiped proud tears out of his eyes, but he steeled himself to let them go to the restaurant without him.

Neji and Tenten were excited for this celebration.

Lee looked constipated.

What kind of nonsense tradition would try to split up him and Gai-sensei?

Obviously he wanted his sensei to come with them! No celebration in his life was complete unless Gai was right there to cheer about it with him. But his teammates clearly wanted to do this the old fashioned way, and it would be wrong to do anything to upset their wonderful sense of unity at this moment…but... _but Gai-sensei…_

Tenten knew what was going to happen right before the tears could fall out of her ridiculous teammate's eyes. She motioned to Neji and in one quick move they had each seized Lee's arms and were dragging him off toward the restaurant.

Gai smiled and shook his head as he watched them walk away while Lee flailed. He could hear them arguing and Lee crying.

Adulthood…bah! What a terrible thing.

Youth all the way!

oooooo

Tenten leaned back against the booth she was seated in and let out a 'whoo!' as she wiped sweat off her brow.

The meal had been _perfect_.

…she thought.

She had never had samgyeopsal before (it was expensive!) and so she wasn't sure what exactly it was supposed to taste like, but something had seemed a smidge _off_ with the meat.

Of course, it was probably just her juvenile, ignorant, uncultured senses that couldn't recognize delicious foreign meat when it was lucky enough to have it.

She absentmindedly rubbed her belly and closed her eyes.

"That was good!" she said, pitch rising a bit at the end and revealing her uncertainty.

"Yes!" Lee chirped back at the same time that Neji let out a "hm".

"Neji?"

The Jounin frowned and placed a hand on his stomach. "It was…"

He wasn't sure exactly.

Unlike Tenten, Neji _had_ eaten samgyeopsal before. He came from a wealthy family and they could afford to have foreign specialty meats for holidays and special occasions. But never before had it tasted quite like that…

Oh well. It couldn't be helped.

He set himself about rationalizing the strange taste the same way Tenten had; maybe this was how it was supposed to taste and he was only able to understand it now that his tongue and stomach were matured.

Lee was oblivious.

He thought the meal had been delicious and couldn't wait for their take out bag so he could run home to Gai-sensei and share it with him.

The moment it was in his hands he thanked the waiter profusely and hopped up so they could hurry back, completely missing the looks of discomfort on his teammates faces.

ooooo

Several minutes and a few blocks from the restaurant later, the looks had faded from their faces and the worry over the taste was gone, but their intestines felt differently.

"Frankly, I can't believe that _Gaara_ of all people said such nice things about you," Tenten muttered, kicking at a rock at the same moment a gas bubble rolled through her stomach so she missed it.

"Gaara is not the same as he was in the first exams!" Lee protested.

"Yeah, but he's still _Gaara_."

"You've just never forgiven him for hurting Lee," Neji murmured distractedly. His hand had not moved from his stomach since they left the restaurant.

Something was wrong.

He missed Tenten's furious blush and would have been on the receiving end of an embarrassed smack if his stomach had not chosen that precise moment to exercise its voice and greet his teammates.

Tenten and Lee halted immediately.

"…Neji?"

"I don't-" he began, before being interrupted by another horrible noise that caused him to let out an involuntary 'uhn!'

"Neji!" Lee cried, stepping towards his friend who looked close to dropping right there in the street.

But then his stomach decided to harmonize with Neji's.

Lee froze again and straightened up, mirroring his hand to his teammate's and pressing his palm to the source of the noise. "What on earth…?" he started, dropping two magnificent eyebrows in a frown.

Then, with the perfect unison of a team that had clearly spent many a long hour training together to solidify their synchronization to the point of perfection – the three of them let out pained gasps and hunched forward.

"What's going on?" Tenten asked through gritted teeth, wrapping her arms around her stomach and trying not to collapse.

How had they not noticed how hot it had suddenly become? Were they sweating this much in the restaurant? Was her colon's integrity always this in question?

"The meat-" Neji began, before letting out another pained noise and falling to his knees.

Lee looked at the bag in his hand full of meat intended for their sensei and shook his head. "No – this was the celebration meat, it would never-"

But it would.

And it _did_.

In fact, the meat seemed to take a personal offense to Lee's notion that it gave a _fuck_ about whether or not it destroyed the stomachs and asses of three ninjas, and decided to punish him by taking the noises that had previously been contained to his stomach and dropping them several inches south.

Lee dropped the bag as his face turned a shade of red they had come to recognize as a sign of a gate opening.

But, the meat did seem to respect the importance of teamwork and unity and in keeping with the spirit of the evening in which the meat had been consumed in the first place, the traitorous samgyeopsal chose that moment to make a choir out of the three of them and took the melody as it pushed air out of their asses while their pained cries harmonized in a disgusting symphony.

" _What is happening?!"_ Lee yelled, wrapping both arms tightly around himself and fighting back tears.

"We have food poisoning!" Tenten screamed back.

"Ah!" Neji agreed.

"Guys- we- uhn!- we have to get out of here and go home before-ah!"

Neji shook his head furiously. He couldn't return to the Hyuga compound like this- hunched over and farting! If Lady Hinata saw him, he would _never_ -

"I can't go home," he choked out through gritted teeth.

Tenten scowled, but she had a similar problem. The Genin apartments were on the other end of the village, and there was absolutely no way that she would be able to survive the walk back. No, the closest place was certainly-

"Gai-sensei!" Lee howled, already moving as quickly as he could toward their teacher's apartment.

She and Neji exchanged strained glances before being seized by another fit of stomach contractions and accepting their fate.

It was mortifying- _mortifying_ , but it couldn't be helped.

oooooo

Gai had just finished his training for the evening and was trying to decide if he had time to go out for a relaxing jog before the teenagers returned from dinner. They had only been gone for a little over an hour, but if they decided to go out for a drink after…

He was spared from having to make a decision by a pounding on his door and a wail of, "Gai-sensei!"

Gai would recognize that wail anywhere!

He moved to the door so quickly it almost broke the sound barrier. "Lee! What's wrong, my boy!?" he hollered, nearly ripping the door off its hinges in his quest to reach his child.

Nothing could have prepared Gai for the sight in front of him.

His three beautiful, strong, impressive youths were all hunched over, clutching their stomachs, sweating profusely, and passing gas like it was the thing to do.

He would have laughed if they didn't look so miserable.

After the second it took for Gai to take in this sight and appreciate what a work of _art_ it was, Neji ran past him into the apartment muttering, "Oh, no no no."

"Neji, no!" Tenten yelled, running in after him. "No, I called it – I CALLED IT!"

The usual fire in her voice was still there, but she sounded like she was going to cry.

Lee didn't seem to be able to move. He dropped to his knees and fell forward into arms that moved to catch him immediately.

"Gai-sensei, I'm dying," Lee choked out. There were tears running down his cheeks and his whole body felt hot, like he had a fever.

Gai frowned and shifted a bit so he could hold Lee up with one arm and used the other to push Lee's bangs off of his forehead and press the back of his hand there. "Lee, you're very warm. What happened?"

Lee would have loved to tell his sensei the incredible tale of Team Gai versus the meat and how they had foolishly put their faith in the splendor of adulthood and were now surely being punished by the universe for turning their backs on youth and not bringing their sensei to the meal- but instead, only one thing came out of Lee's mouth.

He didn't _mean_ to do it. He didn't even see it coming! But warning or no, this meat had a vengeful streak and not a second after Gai's inquiry it was painting itself all down Gai's front.

"…"

"I'm so sorry, Gai-sen!-" but Lee was interrupted by more vomit.

Oh, dear.

He wasn't sure what to do, he couldn't move Lee until the boy had finished and from the sound of it, his bathroom was full…

"Here, Lee," he said kindly, once Lee had stopped retching long enough to continue crying and try more attempts at apologizing. Gai ignored the mess on his front and his floor and helped Lee stand before scooping him up as gently as he could and walking him to the bathroom.

The other kids hadn't even bothered closing the door.

Tenten had won, assuming the thing she had warned Neji she 'called' was the toilet. Poor Neji was reduced to squatting over the bathroom drain.

Lee rolled himself out of his sensei's arms and dropped to the floor as the vomit continued. He seemed to be struggling to reach for something on his back and Gai took the hint without needing to be asked.

He reached forward and unzipped the back of Lee's jumpsuit, trying his damnest not to look at Tenten or Neji who were still crying and yelling.

Lee pulled his tights off of his arms and chest, leaving them to pool where the weights kept them on around his ankles. Then, with all of the hesitation and concern for modesty expected from someone like Lee, he ripped his boxers off and planted his ass next to Neji's to join him in what he was forced to call the _worst training in the world_.

The three of them were quite a sight.

"…can I get you three anything?" Gai tried.

A chorus of pained yells answered and dismissed him.

Gai nodded and left the tiny bathroom, shutting the door behind him to give them some modicum of false privacy.

He moved into his tiny kitchen and, as gingerly as he could, removed his own jumpsuit so he could wash it off in the sink. Once it was relatively clean, at least as clean as it would be without a deep wash, Gai tossed it in his hamper and moved to pull on another.

But there was a chance that the children would require further care from him, and such care could lead to another messy incident like the one in his doorway. Better to spare his beloved jumpsuits from the fluids of youth and stick to clothes he cared less about.

It felt so _wrong_ to wear regular _pants_ , but when Gai accidentally kneeled in a bit of Lee's sick while trying to clean up the rest from his floor he was grateful for the decision.

oooooo

The first two hours were actual hell.

Thank goodness the Jounin apartments had traditional open style bathrooms where the entire floor was tiled and slanted down towards a drain because otherwise there was no way they would have been able to repay their sensei for ruining his floor.

The team hadn't been able to move much from the positions Gai had left them in, except that since Lee's body couldn't seem to decide where it wanted to expel from more he had been forced onto his side to accommodate his ass and his mouth.

None of them had been able to speak.

Tenten was the first to have a brief recovery period.

She had kicked off her shoes (she would have to apologize to her sensei for wearing them inside) and pants while she was still on the toilet, and once she was able to stand she pulled her panties back up and collapsed on the ground.

The cool tile against her overheated cheek felt sinfully good, and she fantasized about turning the shower on so she could lay under cool water and moan, but Lee had knocked the head down to continually wash away the evidence of what he and Neji had done.

Neji took advantage of the open toilet and awkwardly heaved himself forward, out of his squatting position, so that he could crawl forward. It was only a few feet, but it took him a good twenty seconds and lots of grunting to make the trek. He let out an extremely uncharacteristic sound when he heaved himself up, and let out an enormous sigh once his ass was happily planted on the veritable throne of the room.

There was an odd moment of calm among the three of them. No one was pooping, no one was throwing up, no one was crying – it was almost nice.

"Is this how you thought we would be celebrating?" Tenten groaned to her boys.

Lee would have laughed if he wasn't positive the act would kill him.

Neji didn't think he was capable of feeling joy ever again.

There was a small grunt, and Lee awkwardly tried to sit up, flailing a bit as he did so. He pulled one knee up to rest his head on and closed his eyes as his hands moved to finally take his weights off. He hoped that Gai-sensei would forgive him, but at this moment the heat they were trapping on his body was unbearable.

Once they were off and no longer keeping his tights trapped around his legs, Lee yanked the last of his clothes off and tossed them into the same corner where Tenten had deposited her pants and shoes. Now the only thing covering his body were the bandages around his arms and hands – and his fingers were already trying to get rid of those as well.

He was distracted from his task by a particularly pained grunt from the bathroom king on his throne.

"Neji?"

"Oh…" Neji moaned, screwing his eyes shut and fisting his hands on the fabric of his pants bunched at his knees.

"Neji!"

"Why won't it end?" he whined, dropping his head.

"Neji-"

"Oh no," Neji said suddenly, head snapping up and eyes looking like they might cry.

"Neji!" Lee cried. He reached out and grabbed Neji's left hand with both of his and squeezed tightly. "It will be okay! Just let it out!"

"It hurts-!" Neji yelled back, squeezing tightly on his teammate's hands and crying.

"I'm here, Neji!" Lee yelled, as though that was actually helpful in anyway.

It actually was.

Neji lifted his eyes and stared back into Lee's. The part of his brain that would normally be horrified that his teammate was completely naked and holding his hand had been turned off indefinitely since the hand was a grounding comfort and Neji was already pants down and shitting himself in front of said teammate.

"Lee!" he yelled back as his ass started up again. He squeezed the hands holding his _hard_ and didn't break their eye contact as he started yelling again.

"Aaah!"

"Aaah!"

Tenten couldn't even be annoyed, her ass had started up again and now she was in Neji and Lee's old position and deeply upset with the way her life had gone. So she joined.

"Aaah!"

' _What in the world is going on in there?'_ Gai thought as he busied himself with making a special tea for the kids.

Their perfect unison of screams continued for another ten seconds before the worst of that particular pass made its way out of Neji's body and he could breathe normally again. He didn't let go of Lee's hand, though, there was no telling when it would come back.

oooooo

Two hours after the handholding, Neji had joined them on the floor. He had finally abandoned his pants and underwear, and was fantasizing about ripping off is shirt and cutting off all of his hair just to stop sweating.

It seemed like it was never going to end.

"We should rinse off the floor again…" he moaned.

Lee grunted back in response, but stayed exactly where he was.

A gentle knock on the door was met with the same grunt, accompanied by two matching assistants.

"Are you three feeling any better?" came Gai's loving voice from the other side.

Their musical score called for a repetition of the grunts.

"I'm coming in, alright?"

And once more, with _feeling_.

Gai had mentally prepared himself for something unpleasant, possibly upsetting to his own stomach, but he was not prepared for his team to be lying on the floor half-naked (or completely naked, in Lee's case) like dead fish.

He didn't mean to laugh – it was an accident!

"Look at you three! Fear not, my team, this is but further training for your ninja careers! You can fight this!" he declared, completely missing the glares Neji and Tenten threw at him from their feeble positions on the ground.

"Gai-sensei…" came a particularly sad whine.

"Yes, my Lee! What is it, what can I get for you?"

"Gai-sensei it's so hot…"

Gai frowned. With no air conditioning and a broken fan, there was very little he could do about the heat short of-

Actually, Lee might like that.

"Would you like the shower?"

"…yes, please."

Then a shower, Lee would have.

"Tenten, Neji?" Gai asked as he stepped over to collect the pile of clothes from their special corner so he could put them in the hamper and spare them from getting wet. He didn't expect these two to agree, figuring that they would find it embarrassing to have their sensei help them-

"Yes, please."

"Yes."

Oh, well all right then.

Neji weakly pulled off the rest of his clothes and handed them to Gai, nodding thanks as he did so.

Tenten also pulled her shirt off, but kept her bra on. They were well past the point of embarrassment or modesty – but she was going to maintain what little control she could.

Once Gai had gathered every article of clothing that was going to be removed, he returned to the bathroom and had to hold in another laugh.

His students were making a triangle. Neji's head at Tenten's feet, her head at Lee's, and his head at Neji's. They each had their eyes closed and grimaces on their faces. Gai could hear their stomachs churning still, and from the way they were all lying (Lee really had no shame here), the sweat on their poor, exhausted bodies was clearly visible.

Well, have no fear children! Gai-sensei to the rescue!

He carefully stepped over Tenten and reached for the showerhead that was dangling next to Lee's head. He pointed it away from the kids as he turned the water on and waited for it to warm up just a bit.

Once it had moved from frigid to cool, Gai picked up Lee's limp hand and held it under the water.

"Too warm? Too cold?" he asked.

"Uh uh, it's perfect," Lee groaned back.

Gai nodded and stood up. He should offer the same question to the other two, but it would be difficult to get only their hands wet since they were further away from the spray.

"Neji, do you want to put your hair up?"

Neji creaked open one pale eye. "Huh? Oh…" he shifted a bit in a weak attempt to free his arms from underneath him,

"Here," Gai said, dropping the showerhead to hang again and spray against Lee's neck. As gentle as he could, and that was really saying something for Gai, he gathered all of Neji's hair and pulled the tie out from the bottom of his locks to hold them in a loose bun.

"There we go! Now then."

He picked up the showerhead once more and then moved to stand in the center of the three of them. The water fell on Lee first, and the happy moan he let out was enough to make Gai think the other two would like the same treatment.

Gai stood there, rotating as best he could, to water his three students. He tried not to linger on any of them for too long, and tried even harder not to laugh when one of them whined if they wanted the water back.

He felt terrible for them, but a small part of his brain did enjoy that it was nice to be needed. And these three naked, moaning, little weirdos certainly needed him right now.

Ooooo

Four hours later most of the crying and screaming had stopped. _Most_.

After he had finished watering his student-plants, and the teenagers still felt unable to move, Gai left them in their for a bit to dry off before collecting them one by one to put them in a more comfortable spot.

Gai took care of Tenten first. He knelt down and helped her sit up so he could wrap a clean towel around her shoulders. As gently as he could, Gai lightly rubbed it on her arms and back, trying to shake her as little as possible.

She looked up at him miserably. "I can do it myself, Gai-sensei…" she murmured, although she made no move to do so.

"I know you can, Tenten. I have every confidence in your abilities," he answered, trying not to smile.

After she was reasonably dry, Gai pulled out one of the sleep shirts he had brought. This she did put on herself. Once she had on something nice and dry, Gai helped her stand and led her out into the apartment so she could lie down on the bed he had just put fresh sheets on.

Next he gave Neji the same treatment and helped guide him down to lie next to Tenten.

Then Lee.

Lee didn't wait for a clean shirt. When he saw that Gai was moving his teammates out he wanted to be helpful and make his sensei proud, so he tried to crawl out on his own.

Gai praised him for his spirit, but scooped the boy into his arms after he collapsed trying to get out of the bathroom doorway. He intended to make space for Lee on the bed, but when he set Lee down beside it and moved to scooch Neji's legs out of the way, Lee immediately laid face down on the floor next to Gai's bed. He folded his arms under his face, turned his head to the side, and let out a tiny sigh.

Neji and Tenten had no idea what the hell Lee was doing, or why he didn't put any clothes on before he laid down, but they took advantage of the empty bed and relaxed their limbs.

Before Gai could join his son on the ground, he wanted to make sure Neji and Tenten were as comfortable as he could possibly make them, and grabbed the cold, wet cloths he had ready. He carefully brushed each of their bangs out of their foreheads before placing the compress there and then giving each of their cheeks a tender rub.

Neji let out a small sigh of relief and Tenten gurgled something that was probably intended as a 'thank you'.

Gai knew what Lee wanted when he laid down like that, and so after he placed the last cloth on the back of Lee's neck, since he was lying down, he sat down beside his kid and lightly started rubbing his back.

Lee let out a tiny, happy noise, and mumbled, "Thank you, Gai-sensei," against his arm.

Gai smiled and murmured back, "Of course, Lee."

He hoped the kids would be able to go to sleep like this. He wasn't sure about Neji and Tenten, but he had done this for Lee before when he wasn't feeling well or had trouble sleeping. The gentle, calming touch of fingertips lightly gliding over his back and sides were soothing to Lee and helped him drift off.

At least the violently ill part of the evening seemed to be over with.

Gai lost track of time, just sitting there rubbing Lee's back. It had done the trick and Lee was happily drooling on his own arm, and Gai could hear Tenten's snoring coming from the bed, but he was extremely surprised when Neji slowly rolled off the bed and moved down to the floor to mirror Lee's position on Gai's other side.

He didn't need to ask his sensei for what he wanted, and after the blow his pride had suffered this evening he physically wasn't capable of it, but Gai was in full mother-hen mode and caught on without needing to be asked.

Without halting his movements on Lee's back, he took his free hand and mimicked the gentle movements on Neji's bare back, after helping his student push the shirt up.

After ten minutes, twenty, Gai wasn't really sure, but it was long enough that his arms had fallen into a rhythm on their own, he turned his head in Neji's direction and quietly spoke.

"I'm very proud of you, Neji. You'll make a great Jounin."

There was silence at first, then a wet sniff, then one stiff nod from Neji.

Gai smiled.

oooooo

He couldn't remember falling asleep, but suddenly Gai found himself startling awake and blinking against sunlight.

The kids hadn't moved from their spots.

 _Good_ , Gai thought. _Let them get rest._

He got to his feet and stretched aching muscles that protested against having slept in a sitting position on the floor.

 _Breakfast_ …

Food was probably out of the question, but ginger tea would be good. Tea and water. Lots and lots of water.

The sound of the boiling water woke Tenten first, and after she sat up and blinked a few times in confusion at the sight of the boys on the ground next to the bed, she shook her head and reasoned that she probably accidentally kicked Neji out and Lee could sleep anywhere.

Why he was still naked was a mystery but her night was too rough to ask too many questions this morning.

She slowly moved from the bed to her sensei in the kitchen.

He smiled and handed her a cup of tea, doing his best to hold in exuberant morning greetings that could possibly set her head pounding or result in more tears.

"How are you feeling?" he asked instead, keeping his volume as low as Maito Gai was capable of so he didn't disturb the boys.

"Much better. Thank you, sensei," she answered, shocked at how torn up her voice sounded. Vomiting was the _worst._

He motioned for her to sit and she nodded gratefully as she did so.

Being quiet and not talking to his students was the hardest possible kind of challenge for Gai. He wanted to ask Tenten a million more questions about how she was feeling, to assure her that food poisoning happened to everyone and she didn't need to feel embarrassed, and to congratulate her more on the promotion – but she was content to sip her tea with her eyes closed, not a trace of shame on her face, so Gai let it be.

When Neji got up and joined them a few minutes later, since Tenten sipped rather _loudly_ , Gai gave him the same treatment.

Gai only had two chairs in his apartment. One came with the space, and the other Gai picked up a few years ago so Lee would have somewhere to sit when he came over for dinner. But since both seats were occupied by recovering youths, when Lee finally got up and trudged over he had nowhere to place his bottom, so he just walked up to Gai's side and collapsed against him instead.

This time Gai did let out what he was feeling and laughed.

"Lee! My boy!" he hollered enthusiastically, wrapping an arm around Lee's bare waist to help keep him up, and giving him a tiny shake. "How are you feeling?"

Lee just grunted against his shoulder.

Gai allowed himself another laugh and reached forward with his free hand to grab the final cup from the table so Lee could have his tea.

"You all had quite a night. Today you need to get plenty of rest and drink lots of fluids! We will cancel morning training, but perhaps tonight if you're all feeling better…"

He was interrupted by pained, angry grunts.

Another laugh it is! What splendid youths these were. Gai loved them so.

"Yes, we can discuss training later… right now, I think you three would do well to have some water and go back to bed."

They drank their water without complaint.

Gai pulled out one of his shirts for Lee while the teens sipped their beverages, since he figured that Lee would continue to rest here, but he was pleasantly surprised when Neji was the first one to rise from the table and he immediately went back into Gai's bed.

He pressed his back up against the wall and turned onto his side, leaving plenty of room for his teammates.

They took the bait.

Tenten got up and moved to the other side of the bed and Lee happily crawled into the middle.

Gai stood in his kitchen, staring at them and grinning like a fool.

Oh what he would give for a camera! Maybe Kakashi was awake… Gai should go get him so he could see this-

"Gai-sensei," Lee said, interrupting the possible Kakashi mission.

"Hm? Yes, Lee? Can I get you anything?"

"…tell us a story."

A story?

A _story?!_

Gai could certainly do that!

The kids had taken up the bed, but Gai came over and lifted their legs up so he could sit on the edge with this back against the wall and then dropped three sets of feet back down into his lap.

He cleared his throat to begin a masterful tale and let his hands pick up their loving ministrations from the night before on the bits of their feet he could reach.

"Once upon a time there were three splendid ninjas. These ninjas were very powerful, and they had a sensei who loved them very very much…"

oooooo

A/N: Samgyeopsal is fatty pork belly. I live in Korea so I had that on the brain. Gai's bathroom is also modeled after the Asian style of one room you step down into that's completely tiled and shares toilet and shower space.

Thank you for reading! :)

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